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Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Remembering Arnold Palmer

By John Woodcock

Apr 7, 2016; Augusta, GA, USA; Honorary starters from left Jack Nicklaus , Arnold Palmer and Gary Player pose for a photo on the first tee during the first round of the 2016 The Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 7, 2016; Augusta, GA, USA; Honorary starters from left Jack Nicklaus , Arnold Palmer and Gary Player pose for a photo on the first tee during the first round of the 2016 The Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports /
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Former Wake Forest Demon Deacons golfer Arnold Palmer passed away this week at 87.

Who is the most famous person who ever played a sport for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons? At first blush you might drift toward basketball. After all there is Chris Paul, the best pure point guard in the league. Above him would be the recently retired Tim Duncan, a surefire Hall of Famer. You would be wrong despite some calling Duncan the best modern power forward in basketball history.

The answer would have to be Arnold Palmer. Arnie, as he was affectionately known, played golf for Wake Forest a long time ago. It was so long ago, in fact, that Wake Forest was still located near Raleigh in the town of the same name.

Palmer would advance from that experience to become the best player in the sport. He had a manner that attracted him an army of followers. They even called themselves that term. He made professional golf matter in a way it hadn’t before he arrived on the scene. Once a sport of the privileged few, Palmer converted it into a sport of the common man.

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Then Palmer had to fight off the next generation to keep his hold on top. Ultimately he had to surrender the title of the sports’ best to Jack Nicklaus, but not before the two had several memorable duels. Eventually Palmer left the competitive scene. He still made yearly appearances at the Masters until bad health finally slowed the relentless ambassador, and he passed this past week at 87.

For me, it is hard to give an objective view of Palmer. He had ascended golf immortality long before I had any affection for the sport. I mainly watched the man through Golf Channel specials and replays. He was a man who balance confidence with grace. I remember the Golf Channel special that said that he tried to answer every fan letter. He dominated the galleries in ways that no one has before or really since.

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I don’t know if we will ever see another Arnold Palmer. Golfers these days mostly model their games on Jack Nicklaus (or Tiger Woods if they are young enough). Palmer was willing to take chances, even if it sometimes did not work out for him. He could do that with the power with which he played the game. Nicklaus was more calculated.

Of modern golfers, I’d guess that Phil Mickelson is the closest to Palmer’s old style. Yet even as popular as Phil might be, he is not the populist that Arnold was. Golfers don’t really try to be Palmeresque in that way.

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So we send a good one on his way. For the Wake Forest Demon Deacons fans out there, thank you Arnold. I wish we of the younger generation could have had more time with you.

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